Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ator HANSON (—) (): by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise to speak on the performance audit entitled the National Indigenous Australians Agency's management ofprovider fraud and noncompliance:National Indigenous Australians Agency. The need for a comprehensive independent audit of the Aboriginal industry has become more urgent following revelations that the $4.5 billion National Indigenous Australians Agency, the NIAA, was not complying with legislation in managing the risks of provider fraud. The performance audit by the Australian National Audit Office, the ANAO, of the NIAA found that its frameworks for managing the risks of provider fraud and noncompliance in delivering Indigenous Advancement Strategy activities worth $1.03 billion in 2021-22 did not meet legislative requirements. Australian taxpayers had every right to expect that support provided to Indigenous communities by the NIAA was helping people in need and not lining the pockets of frauds. This is a wake-up call as Australians consider their vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum. How can we have confidence that our taxes are going where they should if the NIAA is not following the rules to guard against fraud?

There is plenty of historical evidence of corruption and fraud in this Aboriginal industry gravy train, Aboriginal legal aid and the now abolished Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. There are 3,000 Aboriginal corporations and land councils on this gravy train, and there is hardly any accountability for the profligate spending of our money. Before we're coerced into protecting this gravy train for all time in the Constitution, Australians deserve to know why the gaps aren't being closed despite the billions of dollars thrown at the problem. I've been talking about the need for accountability on this spending for decades. I warned the government about ATSIC corruption eight years before ATSIC was eventually abolished, with bipartisan support.

The ANAO's report stated that the NIAA doesn't maintain evidence of the qualifications of investigative staff in its compliance and fraud branch. The branch did not track or review performance measures according to relevant Australian government investigation standards. Fraud risk assessments were out of date, were missing or did not meet the NIAA's risk management policy requirements, and half of new grant opportunities since May 2022 did not have fraud risk assessments. All public agencies and servants are under a strict obligation to prevent frauds taking advantage of taxpayer funds allocated to help people in need. As I said, they don't even keep records of whether the people who work there have the investigative skills to actually do the job. If they can't do the job, why are they in those positions? They wouldn't even know what to look for—what fraud may have been taken up by some of these organisations they are handing out the grants to. These organisations don't even have to compete. They just put forward that they want a grant. There's no competition. Are they the best person to provide that service to these communities? It's an absolute joke. Fifteen hundred grants in one year were paid out, as I said, to the tune of $1 billion.

There is strong public support for closing the gaps and overcoming disadvantage in remote Indigenous communities. There is a significant risk that this support will evaporate if taxpayers think that the agency charged with delivering some of these programs doesn't have sufficient safeguards to prevent fraud. More than $30 billion a year goes to Indigenous people and communities to address disadvantage. We need to have confidence that this money isn't being wasted. The entire set-up must be audited to make sure. I call on the Labor government—they say they are there for the people and they want accountability—and Prime Minister Albanese to have a full audit of this organisation to ensure that the money is being well spent. This is taxpayers' money. It must be well spent and accounted for properly. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.